“What do I do in the case of school shooting?” “Why are people crying about their family being killed by police?” “Why are kids dying in Syria?” All questions and conversations no parent wants to have with their children. Linsey Fagan was fed up with waiting for someone to fix all these issues stemming from the country, and she didn’t want to have to keep explaining them to her daughter.

“I finally got tired of waiting for someone else to fix my country, I figured I’d just fix it my damn self,” Fagan said.

Fagan, a single mother, decided it was time for her to step up. So she decided to run for District 26 of the U.S. House of Representatives, and she believes with her competitive attitude and will, she can make the historically red district turn blue.

Fagan was born and raised in Keller. She and her family all live within a few streets of each other and she said all she wants is to represent her people.

“These people don’t need anything more than someone who genuinely cares for them and someone who will represent them to the best of their ability in a way that is honest and real,” Fagan said.

If Fagan wins, she would be the first woman to represent the district. She said with such an unprecedented position she would do her best to represent all women.

“Getting in there and being a champion for not only women but anyone who needs a champion. And women need one, women need a lot of them,” Fagan said.

Fagan said Denton's different populations are rapidly growing. She thinks she can energize minorities and people different from her through her honesty.

“I don’t know what you’ve gone through, I will never fully understand it because I just won’t. But I’m here to be your number one ally, for you to tell me, ‘You’re not paying enough attention to this and you should be,’” Fagan said.  “I’m here to be a punching bag. I’m here to do whatever I can humanly do to make your life better.”

She said she can even make conservatives understand she is not a liar and wants to help them. She said the empathy she has is missing in Congress and people will appreciate it.

“I feel the struggles of other people as if they live in my own chest and I think you don’t see that with representatives now,” Fagan said. “They need people who hear things of people in their district and take them and they live with them and they take ownership of them and say, ‘If that’s your problem, it’s my problem now.'”

She said this is not something incumbent Michael Burgess does. He does not put himself in charge of others’ problems, but she said she will take that ownership to the most personal level.

If she wins the seat, she wants to focus on healthcare, education, and corruption.

She said education needs to be fair and accessible for all.

Fagan said she only trusts a small sum of the people in Congress because the dark money they receive from donors is tied to their lackluster attitudes toward their constituents’ lives. She said she has nothing to gain and cannot be bought.

“There is nothing in this for me other than my people and my district,” Fagan said. “Nobody should take a politician at their word because politicians are liars. I’m not a liar. They need to continue with any politician — don’t even believe me, keep holding me accountable.”

She said she has no ego to feed or agenda for this position, so she has freedom to call out all politicians.

“I’m going to call out people in my own party who are doing things they shouldn’t do. I’m going to call out people in other parties doing things they shouldn’t because I owe nothing to donors, I owe nothing to anyone other than the people in my district,” Fagan said.

She said her experiences will help her to be a good representative who will fight for people that aren’t so privileged.

“These members of congress don’t understand struggle,” Fagan said.

Her daughter is where a lot of her motivation comes from. Fagan said she was on Medicaid the first year of her daughter’s life and understands the need for healthcare for all. She said single mothers are strong and she can bring that strength to Congress. Fagan said she can bring the representation of single mothers along with championing other underrepresented groups as well.

Fagan said Burgess is only representing one group well.

“It’s one of the richest districts, but in there, there’s pockets of people that are struggling and right now you have Michael Burgess who is representing rich people really well,” Fagan said.

Fagan said she is scrappy and willing to do whatever it takes to help her people.

“I’m relatively fearless when it comes to a lot of things,” Fagan said. “If you’re looking for someone to go in guns a-blazing, fearless, that’s who I am.”

Growing up in the district, she said she knows most of the people just need someone who is going to genuinely care without ulterior motives.

“These are my people, this is my district, and one day I’m going to represent them,” Fagan said.

Photo courtesy of Linsey Fagan for Texas
Header image layout designed by Mateo Granados